European Patent Application No. EP-A-0,419,177 discloses a computer of the above-defined type, in which the electronic unit controls the recording or the reproduction of voice data in a random access memory. These functions are activated by actuating appropriate buttons, in a similar way to the procedure used for recording and reproduction on a magnetic tape recorder/player. In the recording condition, the audio signals originating from a microphone of the voice section are recorded in the memory, after analog/digital conversion.
Conversely, in the reproduction condition, the signals recorded in the memory are reproduced by a speaker in the voice section, after digital/analog conversion. In this computer, texts and verbal inserts are entirely unlinked.
Furthermore, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,726 discloses a centralized system for the dictation and transcription of texts, comprising a series of dictation terminals equipped with a microphone, and a management unit which controls the dictation and transcription terminals. In each dictation terminal, a dictator inputs verbal inserts which, after analog/digital conversion, are stored in the memory of the management unit. Typists, at a series of transcription terminals, receive the verbal inserts from the memory, after digital/analog conversion. In turn, each dictator receives the various messages previously dictated as alphanumeric text portions and is able to process them by means of a program for handling the texts of the system. Moreover, the dictator is able to identify a point of the text and to input to the management unit supplementary inserts which are appropriately handled and provided with markers. The management unit then inputs the verbal inserts transcribed by the typists at the terminal of origin, inserting them at that point of the text which is specified by the dictator. This system, which is very complex, does not permit a combined handling of alphanumeric texts and of verbal inserts.